Divisi
How to grow Sweet potato
Ipomoea batatas · Convolvulaceae
Photo: Samsule2 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Sweet potato is a trailing vine you grow from vine cuttings (slips), not from seed and not by planting the root. The roots swell underground into the food you dig. It is a hardy, drought-tolerant crop that will give you something to eat even in a poor year, which is why it is a food-security crop across the region. The orange-fleshed types (OFSP) are rich in vitamin A and good for children. White-, yellow- and orange-fleshed types are grown the same way. Two things decide your crop above all else: planting clean, healthy cuttings (whatever sickness is in the vine goes into every plant), and beating the sweetpotato weevil by keeping the roots covered with soil. Note: this is a different plant from the Irish (round) potato.
Filo gèn' · CC BY-SA 4.0 
Kostka Martin · CC0
- Days to maturity
- 90–150 days
- Row spacing
- 100 cm
- Plant spacing in the row
- 30 cm
- Sowing depth
- 5–10 cm
These are general figures for the crop, compiled from published agronomic references including FAO and CABI. The right choice for your field depends on your soil, rainfall and the yield you are aiming for.
Will sweet potato actually do well on your land? Check your field against every crop in the catalogue — free, no signup. Run the free crop check →
Other names for Sweet potato
patat · sweet potato · patate douce · lumonde · ubhatata · mbatata · batata-doce · mbambaira · kiazi kitamu · viazi vitamu · anamo · ọ̀dùnkún
Working in buckets, bags or paces? The farming glossary turns the measures growers actually use into kilograms and hectares — what a 20 litre bucket of each crop really weighs, and how to size a field by walking it — alongside the Shona, Swahili, Ndebele and Yoruba words used in the field. Open the glossary →
Growing sweet potato, stage by stage
Your sweet potato season, step by step — from taking clean vine cuttings and building high ridges, through planting and hilling-up soil to keep the weevil out, to lifting the roots gently and curing them so they store for months.
- Get clean vines and your land ready
- Plant your cuttings and get a full stand
- Grow the vines, weed and hill up
- Bulk the roots — the harvest is made now
- Check the roots are ready
- Lift the roots gently
- Cure and store so they keep
18 step-by-step tasks in the app
Every task for sweet potato — what to do, when to do it and why it matters — with the amounts worked out for your own field, reminders as each one falls due, and warnings before extreme weather.
Pests and diseases that attack sweet potato
5 more threats tracked in the app
Divisi tells you which of these is a risk on your sweet potato right now, when to walk the field looking for it, and what to do the moment you find it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does sweet potato take to grow?
Sweet potato takes about 90–150 days from sowing to maturity, though the exact length varies with variety, temperature and how the season runs.
What spacing should I use for sweet potato?
Space sweet potato rows about 100 cm apart, with roughly 30 cm between plants within the row.
How deep should sweet potato be planted?
Sow sweet potato at about 5–10 cm deep. Shallower risks drying out; deeper wastes seed energy before the shoot reaches light.
What pests and diseases attack sweet potato?
The ones covered in this guide are Alternaria leaf blight, Bacterial soft rot, Flea beetles. Each has its own page explaining how to identify, scout for and control it.
Grow sweet potato with a plan, not a guess
Divisi turns this guide into a dated plan for your own field — what to do each week, reminders as tasks fall due, and warnings before extreme weather. Free for farmers, works offline.
Or check your field first